Origin of the Manuscript
A particularly important reference to a Franciscan saint is found at the beginning of the choir book. It relates to a Spanish brother, Didicus of Alcalá, also known as Diego of Alcalá. Prayers refer to laudable events in his life in Spain, his service to the sick at Ara Coeli in Rome, and his ministry in the Canary Islands. Didicus or Diego served the Franciscan Order in life and enhanced it after his death not only by his spirituality, but by his temporal connections as well. In 1562, Carlos, the grandson of the Emperor Charles V, fractured his skull. When the doctors gave him no hope of recovering, his father, Philip II, King of Spain, ordered that the body of Didicus, credited with numerous miracles, be placed in the bed with his dying son. It is reported that Carlos immediately felt better, and in a few days recovered from his injury. The grateful father petitioned Rome for the canonization of Didicus, and saw it accomplished by Sixtus V on July 2, 1588, twenty years after the death of Carlos whom Philip, in a turn of heart, is said to have poisoned.

Over time, the protection and favor of the Spanish king was also lost by the Franciscans. In 1599, a small convent was built on land donated by a gentleman from Valencia, Don Gaspar Jaca, and named Convento San Diego de Alfara del Patriarca in honor of Didicus. It is the convent referred to in the colophon of the San Diego choir book. Although there is no trace of Father Patricio Berenguer or the scribe Francisco Juan, records show that the convent continued as a Franciscan house for three hundred years until the Civil War in 1835 when many were closed by the government. At that time, the buildings of the Convento San Diego de Alfaro del Patriarca, as well as the furnishings, religious and otherwise, were declared national patrimony and put up for sale. The buildings were purchased by Don Jose Moroder who turned them into a match factory.

The contents and furnishings were also sold. An inventory made at the time shows that the convent owned, among other things, 4 music stands and 64 books. It is likely that it was at this sale that the choir book began its journey through book dealers to the Palmer Collection and Connecticut College.

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